Help Tenants Pool Safely

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) just kicked-off its “Pool Safely” campaign(www.poolsafely.gov), a first-of-its-kind national public education effort to reduce child drownings and non-fatal submersions, and entrapments in swimming pools and spas.

Olympic swimmers Jason Lezak and Janet Evans have dived in to help promote the program, along with Nancy Baker, mother of Virginia Graeme Baker.CPSC reports that a significant number of pool related injuries and deaths involve children.

“It is important to keep in mind that these numbers represent family tragedies. Preventing child drownings year round is a priority for the CPSC,” said Chairman Tenenbaum. “The Pool Safely campaign will start a national conversation with parents and children, pool owners and operators and industry professionals about the simple safety steps they can take to protect themselves and their families in and around pools and spas. These incidents are preventable, so our mission is to change the way families think and act about pool and spa safety.”

The Pool Safely campaign is a key part of the CPSC’s efforts to carry out the requirements of Section 1407 of the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act (P&SS Act), federal legislation signed into law in 2007 mandating new requirements for pool and spa safety. It includes a requirement for a national public education campaign designed to raise public awareness, support industry compliance, and improve safety at pools and spas.

The Pool Safely campaign will deliver an important and simple message: just adding an extra safety step in and around the water can make all the difference. Your greatest water safety assurance comes from adopting and practicing as many water safety measures as possible, including: barriers that completely surround the pool with self-closing, self-latching gates; staying close, being alert, and watching children at the pool; learning and practicing water safety skills (knowing how to swim and perform CPR); and having the appropriate equipment (compliant drain covers, alarms, barriers and sensors).